The Left’s circular firing squad mentality has got to stop. Labeling [‘establishment’ vs. ‘grassroots’ vs. other] and passive-aggressive finger-pointing does nothing but abet the GOP and Trumpism. Progressives, democrats, liberals, the DNC, this means you. This means all of us. Unity on the left is our only hope. The people united will never be divided. It cannot work any other way.
For one, can we all just recall the obvious? Our government has three branches and Congress many members, so no matter how righteous any left-leaning group believes itself to be, there are many other lawmakers, other views, other powers, and other voter mentalities to consider in any effort to effect change. It is, of course, no fun to proceed incrementally through the morass with what feels like ‘compromise.’ It lacks glory. It’s infuriating. It’s unjust. It’s unfair.
But insisting on Nader elects Bush over Gore. There’s no way around it. Insisting on Stein or Bernie elects Trump over HRC and throws the planet, democracy, and knowledge under the bus. And insisting on walking in front a moving car because you have the right-of-way gets you smushed. Dogged principle is one thing, and sometimes a very good thing. But there is also the important matter of staying alive.
For two, labeling liberals as ‘establishment’ vs. ‘grassroots’ or ‘failing voters’ or ‘not speaking to voters’ or otherwise does nothing but help the GOP/45. The GOP/45 positively loves to hear liberals using these labels. Their battle against liberals thus wages itself! Liberals cannot afford to offer up this – or any – ammunition to the GOP/45.
Labeling also forgets history, and shamefully. Bill Clinton was not originally ‘establishment,’ but achieved success. Obama was not originally establishment, but achieved success. It makes no sense and is selfish to now turn against these former outsiders who in fact managed to achieve some inroad, some manner of forward progress, and some break in GOP dominance.
It also makes no sense to alienate blue voters who have loved these formerly non-establishment figures from day one or who loved and rallied behind HRC in both 2008 and 2016. We need loyal blue voters. We need long-time activists. We need die-hard democrats. Progressives cut off their own noses to spite their faces when they scoff at fellow liberals for somehow being “establishment.” It’s inaccurate, wasteful, and arrogant.
Third, labeling and finger-pointing and infighting also does nothing but hurt the country because it utterly distracts from and weakens our fight against fascism, planet destruction, bigotry, and inequity. All liberals who truly care about country must refrain from and act against these self-absorbed self-destructive behaviors. And all liberals who truly care about country must engage in unified ‘intersectional’ non-blaming dialogue with one another. We should know this already. We are grown-ups.
If we don’t dialogue ‘intersectionally’ and with unity, how can we possibly have any chance of ever taking back Congress, resisting the GOP and Trumpism, addressing climate change, upholding American ideals, protecting civil rights and immigrants rights, and helping the plight of refugees and the poor? Like it or not, pragmatic considerations are real considerations for liberals of any flavor. Every elected Democratic representative in any remotely red-ish district has to consider his or her actions carefully if they hope to achieve re-election. This is simple if unfortunate reality. It serves no one, and it loses elections to GOPers, to ignore these considerations.
Fourth, progressives have got stop pushing and buying into the dogged and blind notion that the WWC and rural voters and Rust Belt somehow lost “trust” in the Democratic Party due to DNC ‘failures to speak to voters’ or to mistaken DNC strategies. This bubble-like academic theory ignores a crucial mentality of the American voting populace.
WWC and rural voters, as a group, picked and loved the least trustworthy, most ‘corporatist,’ most investigated, crooked, ‘cronied,’ sued, inconsistent, inexpert, untruthful, openly misogynistic, gaudily wealthy, smarmy, greedy, fat-cat candidate ever. As a group, they did not care one bit about trustworthiness or facts or policies or integrity or socialism. As a group, they did and do not listen to any of it or seem to even know what socialism means. (Have we really already forgotten their vilification of socialism in 2008?) And as far as I saw, they refused to fact-check or research or read any real policy-related, history-related, or current-affairs related info at all. (Believe me, I have attempted to speak with many pro-Trumpers about facts have been roundly blasted and mocked.)
The WWC as a group proved itself to care only for bombast, celebrity, sensationalism, Fox News, and the new sense of freedom to bully and mock those less fortunate or different from themselves. It followed and relentlessly shared outlandish Facebook new stories. To know Trump is to know the WWC, just without all the money. This is why, for one example, after having years to figure out their own healthcare benefits and the ACA, many rural voters are only now noticing – too late – that the ACA is actually helpful to them.
The Bernie ‘Revolution’ unfortunately ignored this willfully ignorant WWC mindset during the election cycle and continues to do so now. It also ignored the massive cultural force that is Fox News, i.e., the GOP’s propaganda machine. This machine pervades the lives of Americans and has for years, especially since Obama’s initial candidacy.
For over a decade, Fox News has shamelessly pushed fear, misinformation, and both obvious and subliminal false messages about liberals, democrats, people of color, Muslims, immigrants, refugees, Obama, and HRC. What is more, it has permanently and overwhelmingly driven home its constant passive-aggressive message that all other media and journalists are unfair and unbalanced, i.e., ‘fake.’
This is what has hurt progressive causes. [Well, this plus voter suppression, gerrymandering, the EC, foreign interference in the election, and treason and foul play by Team Trump, the GOP, and Comey.] This is what is putting LGBTQ rights in peril. This is what is putting the planet in peril. This is what is putting the ACA in peril, and also what makes it astounding Obama was able to get any healthcare measure passed at all.
The problem is not some DNC “establishment” failure. Progressives, Bernie-Bros, and the far-left must get over this self-righteous notion yesterday. They must focus urgently instead on retrieving voters from Fox News, ‘alternative facts,’ absurd Flynn Sr. and Jr. conspiracy theories, horrifying Alex Jones conspiracy theories, the promulgation of dangerous misinformation by Breitbart and others, the cult of celebrity, and decades of GOP hate-mongering toward those less fortunate.
Such hate-mongering by the wealthy, landed, and powerful is simple and as old as US history. It will work forever if liberals continue to attack one another instead of fighting the real problem and the real enemies of democracy, environmental protection, peace, and equality for all.
So enough with the dogged principle! Enough of with the self-righteous labeling and Monday morning quarterbacking. Enough with the circular firing squad. We need to save the country together.
“Enough with the Left’s Circular Firing Squad: Progressives, DNC, Democrats, Liberals, This Means You” and justanothermom.me, 2017-18. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Momsupallnight, justanothermom.me with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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